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Kirby Smart tops SEC head coach rankings, elite names throughout list
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Kirby Smart tops SEC head coach rankings, elite names throughout list
ATHENS âKirby Smart has arguably never been better as a head coach, and thatâs why heâs an easy choice as the top-ranked coach entering into the 2025 season.
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Preseason Rankings…. WASTE.
@MikeGriffith
Let me play the contrarian here. Dawgnation is fond of mentioning that Kirby Smart has produced 20 first round picks - https://www.dawgnation.com/football/what-we-learned-about-georgia-football-during-first-round-2025-nfl-draft-what-comes-next/X7AL565M7FEUHBYX73LNIZI5WE/ - as an example. Please note that those include no first round picks at QB. No first round picks at WR. The only first rounder at RB, Sony Michel, was recruited by Mark Richt. This makes Brock Bowers, TE, the only Kirby Smart recruit at a "ball handling" position to be a 1st round pick. And no, UGA is not going to produce a first round QB, RB, WR or TE in the next draft either, unless it is a transfer portal guy. (Note: 5 of the top 7 WRs and RBs on the depth chart came from the portal, as did 2 of UGA's 3 picks at that position in the last draft.)
And no, guys at those positions drafted from UGA in the later rounds do not pan out, or at least no more so than guys from other schools. With Mecole Hardman being a journeyman at best and Riley Ridley and outright bust, George Pickens and Ladd McConkey are the only UGA WRs having notable NFL careers. Darnell Washington and UGA TEs other than Brock Bowers are mostly blockers, not pass catchers. D'Andre Swift and James Cook are the only Smart recruits at RB to become regular NFL contributors. And all Smart QB recruits have been career 3rd stringers.
You cannot necessarily pin all of this on Smart: it has always been a challenge getting big time WR recruits to Athens, though I cannot recall any group of UGA WRs ever having the issues with separation and dropping passes that the 2024 group, and the 2023 group when Bowers and McConkey were hurt, had. But we can mention that where Richt successfully restored RB U to UGA, allowing Smart to inherit Nick Chubb and Sony Michel and then recruit D'Andre Swift, James Cook and Zamir White based on it, that is long gone now.
Should Smart's clear issues with recruiting and developing big time players at those positions be a mark against his head coaching reputation? And before people claim otherwise, this issue long preceded Mike Bobo. And the last time Bobo was in Athens, UGA had plenty of big time performers at QB, WR, RB and TE.
Well none of that is really strange when you consider that KS is a defense guy. The ole saying is Defense wins games. Looking at KS win/loss record sure seems to bear that out. And Dawgs have done really well in the NFL draft under KS tenure so it all seems to work out pretty good so far.
The transfer portal and NIL have forever altered the structure of CFB anyway. It Might be as time goes on that Recruiting from HS won’t be as important as how well you do in the TP at Getting key guys and Keeling key guys. I say Might. But look at last year Ryan Day and OSU they used the TP to win a Natty. But that’s CFB for this new age.
I’ve never been to keen about people ( no sarcasm just a note) saying a coach won using players a previous coach recruited. I remember people saying that about Mark Richt when he first come to UGA Some were saying he won using players Donnan recruited. So ?? Making an issue of that doesn’t make any sense at all to me. What was Richt supposed to do bench all Donnan recruited players ?? Same thing for KS playing Richt recruited players. Again no sarcasm directed at you just making a note.
I see the gist of what you’re saying, I think I do. You’re saying that KS and staff haven’t exactly been a ball of fire at recruiting players on Offense. And if that’s what you’re saying you’re right. But in the big picture it doesn’t seem to be That big of an issue. He and staff have recruited Great defensive players, Great Special Teams players and decent to pretty good Offensive players.
Now it’d be very nice if KS and staff could get more Great Offensive players, if they could do that year in and out Dawgs would dominate CFB. But with the TP and NIL it’s gonna be Extremely difficult to do that year in and out. To Me a Win from the TP is about as good and authentic as being the Coach & School that originally recruited a player as if that player has great success you would be the Coach & School that he truly produced for, if how I worded that makes any sense.
I think I get where you’re coming from and that’s Why this year will be very important for the O to be more productive beyond just winning games. It’ll cause guys to see that UGA can produce winning Offenses as well as Defenses and prompt Offensive players to want to come to UGA. If KS maintained his Defense & STs recruiting and Added Great Offense the Dawgs would become the Empire of CFB !! Who knows ? Could happen in years coming up.
@navydawg I don't buy the "defense guy" thing when - for example - Nick Saban had 3 future NFL starters at QB at Bama in 2018 (1st round Mac Jones, 1st round Tua Tagovailoa, 2nd round Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts) and Pete Carroll had Matt Leinart (Heisman QB), Reggie Bush (Heisman RB), Steve Smith (2nd round NFL starter WR), Dwayne Jarrett (2nd round WR) and LenDale White (2nd round 1300 yard RB) on his 2003-2005 USC teams. Plus offense guys like Urban Meyer, Dabo Swinney, Jim Harbaugh and even Ryan Day have recruited 1st round defensive players. Also, Kirby Smart has recruited well on offense: just TE and especially OL. He has just struggled landing big time QBs and WRs. And Smart allowed RB recruiting, a program strength that he inherited from Richt, to fall off the map. Half the time - 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025 - he only lands one RB, who usually isn't even top100. Even the years when he lands 2, only in 2018 with Cook and White were both top 100. Despite this he has only taken more than 2 RBs once, 2024, with only 1 of the 3 being top 100. This makes even less sense when you remember that UGA has been doing RB by committee since hiring Monken to revamp the offense in 2020. How can you do that without the RB numbers to make the committee? That is why UGA has had to play WRs and walk-ons like Dillon Bell and Cash Jones at RB the last 2 years plus grab the lesser talented Etienne brother from the portal.
Speaking of the portal, that is no excuse. In 2021 and 2022 Nick Saban got 1st rounders at WR (Jameson Williams) and RB (Jahmyr Gibbs) from the portal, plus 3rd rounders OL Tyler Steen (starting OG for the Eagles) and WR Jermaine Burton. And while "Ohio State bought a title" is overstated, they did get 4000 yard QB (Will Howard) and 1000 yard RB (Quinshon Judkins) from the portal. Kirby Smart's only being able to get Trevor Etienne (600 yards), Dom Lovett (same), London Humphreys (245 yards) and Colbie Young (150 yards) plus guys who didn't even contribute that much like QB Jaden Rashada from the portal is an extension of his inability to consistently land elite players at those positions out of high school.
Justin Fields started at UGA. That was a big get. When they got JT Daniels to come here that was a big get. Brock Vandagriff was ranked very highly as well. Dylan Raiola was on his way until his family took over. Jared Curtis is ranked very high. You talk about WR recruiting without mentioning George Pickens. Why? Then later you mention Jermaine Burton…where might he have started? No mention of how we developed both Ladd and AD Mitchell. This most recent cycle after realizing we need to pony up for bigger names we bring in two highly ranked guys in Talyn Taylor and CJ Wiley.
Don’t leave out all the facts when crafting your narrative. Kirby recruits well both sides of the ball. You could say we develop better on defense than offense, but you can’t say we don’t bring them in.
@Kasey The reason why I didn't list those guys is because my first comment was limited to 1st round picks. Expanding it to the types of guys that you listed on offense - including Brock Vandagriff who completed 12 career passes for UGA - would favor the defense even more. There were lots more Smart recruits on defense that started in the NFL without having been taken in the 1st, for example. So I don't need to construct a narrative when all I need to do is point out that where Mark Richt's last major RB recruit Elijah Holyfield (#108 nationally per Rivals) rushed for 1020 yards at 6.4 yards per carry as a backup in 2018, the only Kirby Smart RB recruit in 10 years to rush for 1000 yards was D'Andre Swift. And no, no one expects Nate Frazier, 670 yards at 5 ypc last season, to join Swift this year. Otherwise Smart would not have imported Josh McCray from the portal.
And you stated: "This most recent cycle after realizing we need to pony up for bigger names we bring in two highly ranked guys in Talyn Taylor and CJ Wiley." Another point that does more harm to your case than help. Why wasn't Smart bringing in guys like that before? Including before NIL and the need to "pony up" even existed in the first place? Did Smart not realize the need to compete against Alabama, Ohio State, LSU and Clemson for bigger names at WR before? So losing to Bama in 2017 didn't cause Smart to want another Devonta Smith? LSU 37 UGA 10 in 2019 didn't make Kirby Smart want guys like Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson? As UGA had championship caliber defenses in 2023 and 2024, realizing this sooner would have been very helpful.
because Kirby won two titles back to back with lower ranked WRs
Maybe my reading comprehension is lacking. But all that adds up to is Kirby has done More than allot of CFB teams with Less talent. In particular on the Offense. After all KS and the Dawgs did win the SEC just last year.
It’s not realistic to think we’ll win a Natty every year or even every other year. Though KS, the Team, and the fanbase certainly Want to and will strive hard for that goal every year.
The Truth is Kirby Smart has been a great coach at UGA thus far and his over all record shows that. Dawgs might be a pleasant surprise in 2025. And if all these recruits follow through and actually ink their signature 2026 should be an exciting year as well. Only thing I’m concerned about KS is him getting burned out from the stress and deciding to retire while he’s still relatively young. I certainly couldn’t knock him if he chose to do that as NIL and the TP have made it all the more stressful for all HCs. Especially a demanding fanbase as UGA is. Kirby created a standard here that he’s expected to live up to every year whether that’s reasonable or not.